Crossing Into Autumn

Over a decade ago, in the Donegal hills, the seeds were planted for a stunning display of Irish heritage. This incredible Celtic Cross is visible aerially in the Autumn when the trees of this forest contrast in their fall colors. Thanks be to Forester Liam Emmery, who's since passed, for this woodland magic. Enjoy a flyover in the video below. And savor these Autumnal days before they fall away with the leaves. 

My Favorite Places

It would probably be impossible to pick my favorite place in Ireland, but picking my favorite places, that I can do. Let me share some places on the Emerald Isle that have won my heart. 

Dunluce Castle sits perched on the North coast of Antrim in Northern Ireland. I've been here twice and have a personal connection with this wild & dramatic castle ruin. You can read more about my experiences HERE.

Cahir Castle, in County Tipperary, is one of my favorite castles. It is the perfect combination of ruin & restoration. Situated on a river with gorgeous grounds, this castle takes my mind right to the Middle Ages. It has been restored in a manner that retains this ambience, without filling it up with antiques and décor that I generally find distracting.

Glendalough Monastic Ruins and Forest combine two or Ireland's best attributes -stunning scenery and incredible history. This place is pure magic. The forest glows under a blanket of moss, a waterfall cascades down the mountain side, pristine valley lake whisper of the history they have seen. And at the base of the mountain and through out the forest, the ruins of a century monastery beckon your exploration. I could return here time and time again. Learn more and see more photos of my journeys into Glendalough HERE.

Dublin, of course, with its cobbled lanes, cathedrals, pubs, and history. My favorite thing about Dublin is its walkability. We nearly always explore Dublin on foot for there is so much to marvel at and always something new. Its lack the intensity and overwhelming size and busy-ness of larger European cities without losing any charm. 

Tollymore Forest Park is one of the most lovely woodlands I've encountered in Ireland. Beautiful, whimsical, and kind of a hidden gem. Architectural follies dot the forest and evoke magic of another era. Explore with me HERE.

An Irish Wood - Dooney Rock Forest Park

County Sligo is Yeats' Country in Ireland. It is a place of epic legends and landscapes that inspired the Irish poet W.B. Yeats. In Sligo you will find many places that feature in the poetry of Yeats including Dooney Rock Forest Park which we just happened upon while driving a ring around Lough Gill where you'll also find Benbulben and Glencar Waterfall. Dooney Rock features in Yeats' poem "The Fiddler of Dooney" and Dooney Rock is an elevated part of the wood from which you can see sweeping views of Lough Gill, the Ox Mountains and Knocknarea Mountain. Look carefully atop Knocknarea and you can see "a huge flat-topped cairn called Maeve's Cairn (Miosgan Meadhbha). The cairn is 55m in diameter and is 10m high. It was supposed to have been built for Queen Maeve, the Iron Age Queen of Connaught (source)."  You can see why Sligo and this atmospheric woodland inspired Yeats and I always find it quite special to find places that connect to history in such a way. The woodland itself was stunning. Occasional trees were labeled with their species. The forest was mainly one species of coniferous tree (though I cannot recall which) which made for a striking fairy tale atmosphere, with moss creeping up each tree and a lovely filtered light. There were benches around to sit a spell and soak in the forest.  

FIDDLER OF DOONEY

W.B. Yeats - 1889

WHEN I play on my fiddle in Dooney.

Folk dance like a wave of the sea;

My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,

My brother in Mocharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:

They read in their books of prayer;

I read in my book of songs

I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time

To Peter sitting in state,

He will smile on the three old spirits,

But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,

Save by an evil chance,

And the merry love the fiddle,

And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,

They will all come up to me,

With "Here is the fiddler of Dooney!"

And dance like a wave of the sea.

What appeared to be an old stone foundation or rock wall. 

Queen Maeve's Cairn atop the flat topped Knocknarea in the distance. 

An Irish Wood - Gougane Barra Forest Park

Gougane Barra Forest Park in County Cork Ireland is one of my favorite woodlands. It is pillowed with moss. A small stream wends its way down to Gouganebarra Lough where St. Finbar's Oratory sits reflecting onto the dark pool of water. The can drive a ways back into the woodland and then hike easy trails into the green wood, all the sunlight to enter this forest is green. There was a wedding taking place in St. Finbar's Oratory while were there but the woods, we had those all to ourselves. Also worth mentioning that this place hosts about the coolest restrooms in Ireland.

A previous hiker (or woodland creature) had left a mushroom collection on a table here. 

St. Finbar's Oratory

Charming thatched loo (toilets)

August in a Sun-Dappled Wood

I went into a hazel wood, 

Because a fire was in my head

- William Butler Yeats

Contents: 5x7 Print of Beech Tree, 4x6 Print of Torc Waterfall, Hazel Botanical Card, Fern Bookmark, Decorated Yeats' Poem "Song of Wandering Aengus," sorry leaves not included. 

The August Issue of Emerald Post is inspired by the wild woods of Celtic Lands, the reverence that ancient people held for trees, and the liminal, mystical magic of woodland and an enchanting poem by Ireland's own William Butler Yeats. A walk through a sun dappled wood delivered right to your mailbox. Cool your feet at the base of Torc Waterfall in Killarney National Park, Ireland. Marvel up at a towering beech tree in Tollymore Forest Park, Northern Ireland. Stoop to trace the details of a fern on the forest floor and learn of the lore of the Hazel Tree. Hear the verses of W.B. Yeats on the wind and as the forest canopy sways above you.  Send a woodland walk to a friend of take one for yourself HERE.

A Different Sort of Portal

My Portal Collection shows love to the architectural doors of Celtic lands but nature, especially an Irish forest, offers us many portals to other worlds, literal caverns of arching trees as well as sun dappled or shadowy worlds of our imaginations. I am grateful for the places that the natural realm takes me in my life and in my mind, with my feet and with my soul. Grateful, too, for the magical places I've been that have really transported me. I often include this quote by Stephen Graham in the journals I take on trips to remind me that doors are everywhere, but we must look for them:

As you sit on a hillside,

or lie prone under the trees of the forest,

or sprawl wet-legged by a mountain stream,

the great door,

that does not look like a door,

OPENS.

- Stephen Graham

Painting in the woods in my travel journal from last trip to Wales and S.W. England. 

Natures does seem to present me with actual doors, too, sometimes, though I think they lead to the Faerie Realm...